


Message Of Tomorrow

by fixusi



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort, Low Fantasy, Magic, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:36:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28458405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fixusi/pseuds/fixusi
Summary: After nearly getting burned alive at the age of nine by his father, Jacob has lived a rough life. Angry and alone, he seeks revenge from the man he blames for his suffering; the High Priest, leader of the Aenonian lands. However, things get complicated when a strange, disembodied voice calls Jacob’s name, and he finds himself in the middle of an apocalyptic mess. Forced into saving the world he couldn’t care less about, he teams up with the son of his sworn enemy — and finds himself second-guessing everything he’s ever known. Are people actually as bad as he thought they are? Is there still hope for him? And is there a way for Jacob to let go and heal, or will his past become his end?First two chapters of my upcoming book!
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> These are the first two chapters of a book I’m going to publish during spring 2021. Final edits are nearly done, and I’m so excited! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this sneak peek!

# Chapter 1

They always looked so surprised. This guy wasn’t an exception. 

I yanked the dagger out of the guard’s gut and shoved him to the wall before falling back. Blood trickled down the blade and splashed down on the gun he’d never gotten to use on me. 

He was, what, maybe thirty-something years old, and had probably spent most of his life guarding the biggest dick of the universe. He had compromised all his life goals and forgotten all his own hopes and dreams to protect a bunch of old laws and the meanest asshole to ever roam the planet. 

And yet, he didn’t want to die. 

“Sucks, doesn’t it?” I wiped the blood off my lips and pushed the dagger back into its holster hanging off my belt loop. He’d gotten a few good punches in; at least I couldn’t blame him for lack of trying.

The guard stumbled along the wall, crimson blood pouring between the fingers he held clutched to the wound. He let out a half-gasp, half-sob, his eyes filling with tears. “Oh, Holy Aeno, please!” His voice broke on the last word. “Please, save my soul and damn him to hell!” 

Damn me to hell? 

I snorted and crossed the room to the door before turning back around to glance at the guard. 

He was pathetic, sobbing and begging like that. Why did everyone fear death so much? It wasn’t anything to be afraid of. It wasn’t _anything_ , full stop. Just an eternity of nothing in a blink of an eye. 

“Let me ask you one thing,” I said. “This god of yours you’re begging to protect you… Where do you think he is now? Because from where I am standing, it doesn’t look like he’s doing much to save your ass.” 

He only wept as an answer. 

Fine, then.

I exited the room, leaving him to his blood and tears. It wouldn’t be long until someone came to check on him, and if I wanted to see this through, I couldn’t be there when they did.

Taking a detour to check out this part of the Palace had been a mistake. 

The corridor turned both left and right from the doorway, but a quick glance around told me left was the right way to go. Right, there was nothing but a glass door to the seventh-floor balcony, and King Dick’s rooms were upstairs, on the fifteenth floor. That was my safest bet. 

I headed down the corridor filled with red-and-black rugs and chandeliers made of gold. Wooden sticks poked out of the walls, supporting glass-cased candles.

The guard’s cries echoed through my head. Frowning, I pushed them away.

He had made his choice in joining the Aenonian Guard and trying to stand in my way. If he was lucky enough to get help before he bled out, it was meant to be. If not… 

Well, at least it would be fast. 

And it wasn’t like I hadn’t given him the option to walk out. The guard had decided to stay and fight. He only had himself to blame.

Though, it had been dumb of me to get seen in the first place. Maybe coming with a plan more proper than ‘sneak in, find King Dick, and kill him’ would’ve been better, but whatever. As long as I didn’t get caught, it didn’t matter. A single dead guard didn’t matter. 

The corridor took a turn to the right, and I came to a stairwell wide enough for at least fifteen people to walk side by side. The white stone of the stairs glimmered under the lights embedded into the ceiling, the dark red details curling around the steps like drops of blood in a bowl of water.

And still, not a soul around. Something was up.

I came to the eighth floor, circled to the stairs leading upwards, and kept going. Noises echoed from somewhere above me, a rhythmic speech too distant for me to make out. I looked up as if that’d let me see what was going on and kept jogging. 

Only five more floors and I’d be there. 

My chest tightened in something I couldn’t quite identify as I picked up my pace. The sound of my steps echoed around the quiet halls.

After so many years, after all that heartache and pain, I was finally here. King Dick—or the High Priest, or whatever title he wanted to go by—wouldn’t see the sun rise again. He would die in my hands, but not before I made sure he remembered them. Remembered what he’d done. He’d die knowing it was his actions that had led us to this moment, knowing that his killer was the same little boy he’d let burn; the same little boy he’d—

_“Jacob.”_

The voice made my body freeze, but my head snapped up as my heart leaped.

Shit. 

Had someone seen me? 

My hand dropped to the handle of my dagger. “Who’s there?” 

The distant chanting continued somewhere above me, but whoever had called my name stayed quiet. 

My heart picked up the pace as I started creeping down the corridor. 

Weird. But maybe I’d imagined it. My nerves felt okay, but who knew? Maybe I was about to lose what tiny bit of sanity I had left and just didn’t realise it. 

Yeah. I was jumping at shadows. That was all it was. Had to be.

I pushed myself into a jog, still gripping my dagger as if that’d help with the violent rushing of my heart.

The stairwell to the upper floors was on the other side of the tenth floor. I’d have to cross the entire floor to get further, but luckily, that wouldn’t be an issue. Not with my blade on my belt, as long as I focused on—

_“Find me.”_

I came to a halt, my shoes skidding on the tiles. 

Shit. Okay, I definitely hadn’t imagined that. 

But it was almost like… Almost like the voice had been in my head. A thought I hadn’t put there.

Was I going crazy?

I almost wanted to laugh.

Of course. Because what else would happen? As if the universe would ever let me have a day of peace. No, now that I was finally here, finally about to finish what King Dick started all those years ago, something had to go wrong. 

I couldn’t abandon my mission, though, not after waiting for this long. Besides, I’d already made my way to the tenth floor! If I turned around now, who knew if I’d ever make it here again? They’d know to tighten security after they found that guard, and eventually, they’d figure out the route I’d used to slip in. They’d seal the hole and that was that.

No. I had already come past the point of no return.

I kept walking with a shake of my head. Whatever that disembodied voice was, whether or not I was going crazy, it didn’t matter. None of that did. All that mattered was finding the High Priest and shoving my blade down his throat for all he’d done to me. To my family. 

_“Jacob!”_

The voice thrust through my skull like a dagger. I crashed on my knees, a cry escaping my lips, and pressed my hands to my head. 

_“Find me!”_

“Okay!” I cried. “Whatever to make this stop! I will, okay, just— Just stop!” 

The pain vanished as quickly as it had begun. 

I drew in a breath and—

Shit.

I shot up, ripping my dagger out as a rush burst through my veins, ready to lunge—

But the corridor remained as quiet as before. The chanting echoed around me, a bunch of distant, muffled noises I could barely recognize as human-made sounds.

Huh. 

Maybe no one had heard me.

I wiped a runaway tear off my cheek, straightened my loyal jacket, and nodded. A promise was a promise, even if I was probably imagining it all.

“Alright, weird voice. Where the hell are you?” 

There was a twinkle somewhere deep inside me, like an invisible force brushing against my essence, touching who I was. And just like that, I knew where to go, as if someone had told me the directions weeks ago and I was now remembering them in vague glimpses.

I tensed. 

What on Aeno’s name…?

Following that weird pull probably wasn’t the smartest idea, but what else was there? Leaving it be and never finding out what was going on? 

No. That wasn’t an option.

And so, I got moving again. 

A brief detour wouldn’t hurt anybody. King Dick wasn’t going anywhere, not tonight, so as long as I found the source of the voice quickly, my revenge would be fine. 

And besides, if I followed it and found nothing, I could safely assume I was losing my sanity. Sure, that would have sucked, but losing my sanity wasn’t the biggest of my problems, and at least I’d know the voice was nothing but a figment of my imagination. I could ignore it if that was the case. 

I headed down the corridor and turned right from a little crossroads. Doors labeled with numbers framed the narrow, undecorated corridor with bland, grey walls. Dust lingered in the air, illuminated by the yellow lights hanging from the ceiling. Careful not to kick any of the million and two cardboard boxes and fabric-covered objects, I inched forward, and after a few hundred feet, the passage opened up to a larger space. 

“So… what now?”

Nothing replied, and maybe that was for the better. 

Was I seriously doing this? Following a strange voice inside my head and talking back to it like all was fine and dandy?

But as long as there was even the tiniest chance I wasn’t crazy, I couldn’t walk away. Not before I found out the truth.

This wider area was as undecorated as the corridor had been, but with a classy, metal chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. A few doors framed the walls, and a couple of enormous windows gave me a pretty view of Riveria. 

Or, well, a view as pretty as a shithole like Riveria could offer with its worn buildings and crowded, dirty streets filled with sick and malnourished people; people who worked themselves to death in the name of a god who didn’t even exist.

Oh, King Dick deserved a taste of my blade for everything he’d done. 

After that, the guards would probably kill me, but it wasn’t like anyone would care. Mom, dad, Drew, Willow — they were all gone. Hell, the washer lady would probably be relieved I wasn’t going back to bother her with my bloodied clothes again. 

A sting in my forehead made me squint. 

_“Jacob.”_

“Stop. I’m coming, okay?” I rubbed my temples to ease the pain before it had the chance to make me crumble again. “Have some goddamn patience.” 

As the ache eased, I headed for the door on the right. That was the door, I was sure of it, even if I didn’t understand how I knew. 

I grabbed the handle and pushed. Nothing. I pulled. Again, nothing.

Somehow, I wasn’t surprised.

“Yeah, sorry, but I’m not getting in.” I took a step back as I glanced around. “And doesn’t look like there’s a key.”

Though the noises barely reached my lonely corner of the Palace, I noticed the chanting changing its style; the words came faster now. Whatever they were doing wasn’t the regular Firemoon chant. Maybe this weird voice had something to do with the change? 

The door clicked as it unlocked. 

I flinched back, staring at the door slowly creaking open, my heart picking up the pace.

Well, that…

That was not promising. At all.

Yet, against my better judgment, I grabbed the handle and yanked the door wide open, ready to get jumped by whoever had unlocked it — but a second passed, and then another, and nothing happened. Nothing jumped at me. No one screamed ‘surprise!’ and shoved a gun in my face.

Alright.

Forcing myself to draw in a breath and calm the hell down, I stepped in.

A blinding white filled the room. One look at it, and a sting of discomfort flared in my eyes. There were no windows and no lights that I could see, and yet, I had to lift my hand up to shield my eyes.

Something resembling a table stood in the middle of the room. It grew straight out of the floor with no seams, the same shining white as everything else. And on top of that little table, sat a stone the size of my fist. It was white, too, and glowing even brighter than the rest of the room. 

It was... 

It was almost as if it was pulsing.

My foot slipped. I shot my hand out to grab the wall and stayed upright, but as soon as my fingers touched the white stone, a million needles of freezing pain exploded in my skin. I snatched my hand back, slipped again, and crashed down on my side. 

Groaning thanks to the new ache in my hip, I pushed myself on my knees.

What the absolute hell had that been?

Slowly, I brought my hand back towards the wall; the wall that wasn’t stone at all. It glowed, its surface something so cold, merely the air around the wall turned my skin numb.

Well, I wasn’t touching that again.

An unease grew inside me, a slowly spreading tension in my chest, as I stood up. 

What was this place?

_“Jacob.”_

I snapped my gaze to the stone, my breath catching in my throat as I scrambled a step back.

No. I had to be wrong.

_“Come closer, Jacob.”_

Oh, no, no, no.

The stone… 

It was the shining, pulsing stone that was talking to me?

‘Freaky’ didn’t even begin to describe it, not anymore.

“Okay, so, uh… I think I found you,” I managed through the racing mud my mind had turned into. My feet kept slipping as I approached the stone, but I waddled on with my arms outstretched, keeping my balance. “What… What now?” 

It didn’t answer me. Which would’ve been amazing any other day, because stones didn’t really talk, but this wasn’t like any other day. A glowing stone of ice that had the power to talk to me? Very normal. I definitely was not insane in the least.

What was I even doing? Why wasn’t I running and pretending none of this had ever happened? I could still turn around, finish my mission, and live miserably ever after — until the guards caught up to me, of course, and executed me for the murder of the Aenonian nation’s leader.

But nah. That thing was too interesting to leave be. Too… odd.

Besides, I’d most likely never be back here again. If I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life wondering what this had been about, I had to figure it out now. 

I stopped in front of the table. 

The white stone would’ve seemed so blissfully normal if it wasn’t for the pulsing light it cast around the room. Even though I had mostly gotten used to the bright light, standing so close to it stung my eyes. 

“What are you?” I asked, squinting to ease the ache. “Why am I here?”

Again, it didn’t answer me. 

“So you’re only chatty when it suits you?” 

Man, I needed to get back on track. I still had to make it to the fifteenth floor, and who knew how many guards they had set up on the upper levels? Maybe the best idea was to take the stone with me and hope I made it back to Riveria in one piece to examine it further. 

“Okay, so you’re coming with me,” I told it — and grimaced.

Oh, I was nuts. I was talking to this thing, this piece of icy stone, and hoping that a voice—a voice that was nothing but a figment of my imagination—would answer. Maybe it was good everyone was gone. What would Drew or Willow even have thought if they’d seen me right now?

I reached my hand out. “I hope you don’t mind traveling in my pocket for a bit. I still have to—” 

“Stop!” 

I flinched and almost slipped again. Catching myself on the edge of the weird table, I managed to spin around without falling over. 

Patson—the palest, whitest being to ever leave the safety of a mother’s womb—stood at the doorway. He wore his red-and-black Guard Leader’s outfit, his hand down on his waist where his gun sat holstered. 

Three guards stood behind him, all sporting horrified looks on their faces.

Oh. Well, that was okay.

Flashing Patson a smirk, I let my fingers wander down onto the handle of my dagger. Better safe than sorry. “Nice to see you again. How’s it going?”

Four guys. He still underestimated me and my skills, even after all these years. Patson was the Head of the Aenonian Guard, but he would never beat me in a fight, no matter how much backup he had.

“Step away from the stone.” His voice was as tense as his broad body. “And whatever you do, do not touch it. Do you hear me? Don’t touch it.”

Since he put it that way, I had no other option but to touch it. 

“Oh. So, like this?” I hoovered my free hand above the stone. The surrounding air prickled my fingers like a million little bugs nibbling on my skin, but I stayed still. 

Patson flinched closer to the door, something resembling anger—or maybe desperation—rising in his eyes. “Don’t touch it! For once in your life, do as I tell you!”

I gave him a sheepish grin. “But I don’t want to.”

“Jacob, no! You touch that thing, and I swear on Holy Aeno himself, you will regret it.”

“So it’s important, huh?”

“You have no idea.”

Oh, this was perfect. No matter what the stone was, if it was important to Patson, it was important to King Dick and the Messenger, too; and that meant I needed it. 

“Come on, Patty.” I smiled, reaching my hand down. “You obviously need it for something. That makes it interesting to me.” 

Horror in his eyes, Patson flinched forward, his hand stretching out to me. “No, don’t—”

I grabbed the stone.

A ball of blinding white light exploded out of the stone. I grunted and closed my eyes as the whiteness stabbed my retinas. Instinctively, I let go of it and whipped my hand, but the thing stuck to my skin like it was glued on. Ice, literal goddamn _ice_ rushed up the palm of my hand, spreading across the skin and enveloping it in a burning coldness.

Gasping for a breath, I stumbled back, a rush of horror surging through my veins. 

“You idiot!” Patson screamed. “Move out, everyone, move out, now!”

My foot slipped and I crashed onto my side with a cry. The stone had spurted clear, crystal-like roots that swirled around my arm, under the sleeve, and tightened around my limb like a snake strangling its prey. The burning spread with the roots, reaching my shoulder and continuing down my chest.

A slicing pain rushed up the inside of my arm. I choked on a breath at the pain, squeezing my eyes shut as tears welled up. Something warm dripped down my arm, and all I could do was scream and twist on the icy floor as the stone spurted more roots and embedded itself into my skin.

_“Thank you, Jacob.”_

Black spots danced in front of my doubling vision and—


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter two!

#  Chapter 2

“What’s your name, boy?” 

I grimaced, drawing in a deep breath as I let my head roll back. Nausea rumbled in my stomach, the floor waving under my knees and the rope around my wrists chafing against my skin, but at least the freezing burning had stopped.

Not that this situation was any better.

The guard, another boring man in his thirties, stood up from the little wooden chair he’d dragged in front of me, and kicked it back. Its legs scraped against the concrete floor of the dim basement as it slid away. Crouching in front of me, the guard grabbed me by the chin and forced my head down. “I asked you a question.” 

Resisting the urge to spit in his eye, I gave him a grin. “Why don’t you go first? It’s good manners.”

The guard tensed, his nails digging into the soft skin on my cheek. “Your name. I’m not asking you nicely again.”

“Didn’t your mom ever tell you it’s polite to introduce your—”

His open palm slapped me across the cheek. Dropping his hands to the collar of my jacket, he clutched the fabric in his fists and yanked me forward. “I told you, I’m done asking nicely.”

Groaning, I let my head roll back again and closed my eyes. 

Life was full of difficult decisions, and this was one of them. To piss him off and enjoy it but suffer the consequences, or obey and not get beaten up?

But getting out of here required the use of all my limbs.

“Fine.” I lifted my head. “It’s Jacob.”

“Last name?”

“Matts.”

My good old alias. I wasn’t giving my true identity away before I was face to face with King Dick, with my blade against his throat.

Though, that begged the question; what was even real anymore? Jacob Matts was more me than Andei Suwen had ever been, and it had only been a few years since I’d abandoned that first name of mine.

Still, Jacob was a name they wouldn’t connect to the burned boy from back then, and that was all that mattered. 

The guard let go with a shove and nodded, standing up straight. “That’s what I thought. And your age?” 

“Afraid I’m not legal yet? I gotta say, all this rope-stuff is making me a bit excited.” 

“Drop the jokes.” 

“You’re in luck.” I gave him the cockiest smirk I could muster. “I’m twenty. A couple of months away from twenty-one, actually. Because that’s important, right? And I mean, I’m on my knees already, so you can go ahead and say what it is you’re planning.”

“You’re being charged with one count of murder, fifteen counts of assault, and ten cases of theft.” He loomed over me, tense as a baseball bat stuck in a cart full of horse shit. “Anything to say for yourself?”

“Not really.” 

“Are you sure?”

I nodded, shrugging as much as the ropes allowed. With my hands behind my back, there wasn’t much room to move. “What’s there to say? We both know who I am and what I’ve done. As if denying it would do me any good. Or, am I wrong?” 

The guard smirked pretty humorlessly. “No. You aren’t.” 

He inched even closer to me. The look on his face promised nothing I’d enjoy. 

“Just to get this out of my system.”

I barely had time to suck in a preparing breath before the sole of his leather boot hit my chest. I crashed on my back as the air exploded from my lungs. Tears rose to my eyes as I gasped for air, a deep throb somewhere in my chest turning my choking breath into a coughing fit. 

As it eased, I rolled onto my side and pushed my forehead into the concrete, swearing.

That damn stone. They’d caught me, and it was all because I’d been stupid enough to take orders from a goddamn rock!

“Now.” The guard clapped his hands together and crouched. He grabbed the collar of my jacket and yanked me back to my knees. “You stole something of ours. Before we put you through trial, I will have to ask you to return it.” 

I laughed, the lingering ache in my chest easing. “What, the stone? Haven’t seen it since I passed out. Maybe Patson took it.” 

“Last he saw it, it was in your hand.” The guard yanked the chair back in front of me and sat down. “So tell me, where did you hide it?” 

He wasn’t serious, was he? Patson had seen how much touching that thing hurt. I hadn’t had time to think about hiding it anywhere in the middle of all that mind-bending agony. 

“Nothing, huh?” the guard asked, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees. “I would hate to hurt you. Bring more tears to those odd eyes of yours. Lying to an official is a punishable crime by the Aenonian law, you know.” 

“I’m familiar. Doesn’t keep your master from lying to all the Riverians, though, including you so-called officials. How about you tie him up instead of a kid just trying to survive?” I scoffed, shaking my head. “Deliver some actual justice in this shithole for once.” 

With my hands tied behind my back and no way out, fighting wasn’t an option. If I was to escape, I had to be smart. And I  _ was _ getting out, one way or another; there was no way in the icy Aenonian hell I’d die before King Dick did. Getting the Messenger was a bonus, too, but the High Priest was all that mattered. 

“Just trying to survive, you say?” The guard lifted an eyebrow at me. “So you call killing and hurting dozens of innocent guards and Soldiers just doing their jobs, what? Trying to survive?” 

“It’s me or them.”

“Right.”

“Anyway, that ice rock,” I said. “I thought ice was punishable, too? So why on Aeno’s name would you be hiding away an object like that?” 

“Holy Aeno has given us his permission for the ice.” 

“Says who? The Messenger?”

“Yes.”

I laughed.

Oh, these poor Aenonians and their blind faith in the two sociopathic liars at the top of the power pyramid. What would it take for them to see all the misery their leaders caused with their lies and greed and lust for power? Was it even possible for them to open their eyes and see the truth?

The guard’s eyes narrowed. “Holy Aeno spoke through him and gave us the permission to hold the ice.” 

“You didn’t see what the stone did when I touched it. I don’t think even the great, all-knowing Aeno would allow such things. I mean, it could be ice from the very hell he’s trying to send all sinners to, right?” 

If I survived my meeting with King Dick, the Messenger was next on my list. He deserved to spend an eternity in that frozen hell more than anyone else in this universe.

Right after the High Priest, of course. 

“How many crimes do you plan on adding to your list?” The guard stood up with a disapproving shake of his head. “You will face trial tomorrow morning. Do try to stay awake if you want to enjoy your last hours on this earth. We both know there is only one way that trial will end.”

“Thanks for the kind suggestion, but no thanks.” I flashed him a smile. “I’m gonna take a good, long nap, and get out of here. You might want to stand back if you want to get home to your family.” 

The guard scoffed as if to mock me and walked out. 

Fine by me.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, I climbed to my feet, glancing down at myself. It wasn’t a surprise they’d taken my dagger from me, but maybe they hadn’t bothered to check my boots. After all the toe and ankle related injuries, few dared to keep their knives down their shoes anymore. 

I kicked the boot off—I had known keeping them untied would come in handy some day—and watched the tiny knife fall to the stone floor with a metallic cling. 

Oh, for once, something worked out.

I turned my back to the knife and kneeled, leaning back. I nearly stumbled over as gravity took a hold of me, but I kept my balance and wrapped the knife in my fingers. The blade was no more than a few inches long, but that was precisely why I’d tried my best to keep it on me at all times. Boy, did that pay off now. 

Standing up again, I wiggled my foot back into the boot and turned the knife in my hands. Carefully, I pressed it against the ropes and began sawing.

Getting to King Dick wasn’t happening tonight, that much was clear. Even if the thought made my blood boil, I forced myself to keep calm. Maybe this was for the best. Who knew what that ice stone had done to me? I could sneak out, go back to town, and find out what had happened. Besides, I could gather my strength and keep practicing, and eventually, after the dust had settled and there was another way into the Palace, I could come back even better than I already was. 

The blade bit through the rope, nicking my skin. I couldn’t hold back a sigh of relief as I pulled my hands in front of myself, shaking the rest of the harsh rope off.

Finally.

I brought my hands back up—

My heart skipped a beat at the sight of them.

My veins shone bright blue below the skin. On my palm, on my wrist, the bends on my fingers... They looked like bolts of lightning stuck under my skin, glowing bright against the dim air, or like someone had poured pure light into my bloodstream. 

Frozen in place, I stared at the veins, my heart racing.

Well, that was… Uh. Mildly alarming. 

The stone had glowed and pushed roots up and down my body. It had secured itself against my palm and turned the entire arm to ice. Maybe whatever had made it shine was now inside me? Or maybe this was an aftereffect of everything it had put my body through?

There had to be someone in the city who could tell me more about it. I needed to know what the stone was, what it had done to me, and why it was so damn important to King Dick and his slaves. 

First, though, I had to get out, and preferably alive, not in a body bag. 

Shaking my shock off, I moved to the big wooden door, the only entry and exit to the room they’d decided to use as a makeshift prison.

If I had to guess, I was still in the Palace, probably in the basement based on the lack of windows and the thick, still air all around me. It wasn’t the prison, that I knew for sure, and that was fantastic news. The Aenonian Guard never held criminals at the Palace, meaning the room wasn’t an actual cell. Maybe getting out would be easier, too. 

I pushed my ear against the wood and listened. Drowned speech echoed through it, so quiet I could barely make it out. The door looked heavy and thick, though, so the speakers weren’t probably all that far off. And by the sounds of their voices, there were two people out there, but I couldn’t trust that guess. What if there were more, standing around quietly?

Well, whatever. I had to take my chances. Staying would mean a sure execution, probably a death by the creatures. Or, if they were feeling merciful, they’d slit my throat. 

I placed my shoulder against the door and pushed. It didn’t budge, and of course it didn’t. Why would anything work out?

I took a step back with a curse, looking around. 

Luring them inside wouldn’t work. The room was too wide, I was outnumbered, and they had better weapons than I did. In case there were more people than just those two chatty ones, I needed the narrow corridor to pull it off.

So if getting them in wasn’t an option, I had to get out.

And the voice, or whatever it was, had unlocked the door to the ice room. 

I had kept my promise to it and found the stone, and boy, had it cost me. That thing owed me one. 

“Hey,” I said, unsure where to look as I spoke. 

I was probably a bit insane, but after the night I’d had, nothing was crazy anymore; and if it could get me out, I’d be fine with admitting this was all real.

“Hey, weird voice, stone, whatever you are. I kept my promise, and that got me locked up in here. Be a good… I don’t know, stone-whatever-thing, and open the door for me.”

I waited a few heartbeats, but nothing happened. The room remained quiet aside from my own breathing and the occasional whirr of electricity.

I laughed and bowed my head, wrapping my hands into my curls.

Oh, man. I was definitely insane. 

What had I even expected? The whole thing was too weird to be true. Most likely, I had hallucinated everything; maybe the guard on the seventh floor had dosed me with something. Or maybe I was finally losing my mind, plain and simple. 

It was time to stop waiting for a hallucination to help me and find a way out myself. Maybe there was something in the room I could use to pick the—

A sharp wave of pain hit my head. I gasped, crashing to one knee, and buried my head into my hands.

_ “You need my help.” _

I drew in a sharp breath as I nodded furiously, my curls flinging down on my face and then back into the air. The pain intensified, washing over my head like a wave of fire. I crashed to my side, unable to hold in a groan as I squeezed my eyes shut. “Stop. Stop! Please, just—”

_ “Are you prepared to help me in exchange?” _

“Yes, yes, whatever you need! Just stop!” 

_ “Say it. Will you unify me?” _

“I promise!” I cried, squeezing my head between my hands as the world swayed underneath me. Nausea rushed in my gut. “I will— I will unify you!” 

The pain vanished. I gasped, relaxing the grip of my head, and cracked my eyes open. A watery blur obstructed my view of the stone floor. 

What the hell had just happened? 

_ “Do not fail me, Jacob. Or should I say… Andei?”  _

“Don’t call me that.”

_ “Why not?” _

“Because it’s not my name. Not anymore. I don’t care what you are or how many promises we make. You do not get to call me by that name.” 

It didn’t reply anymore.

Good.

I pushed myself sitting up. Leaning my elbows over my knees, I propped my forehead against my hands and closed my eyes.

Unifying it...

What the hell had I done? What had I agreed to? What did unification mean?

But then again, did it even matter? As long as I got out, it didn’t matter what the weird stone wanted. Like I’d already established, I was probably hallucinating anyway. 

Yeah. That was it. And it was time for me to focus on getting out.

Wiping my tears, I stood up, walked to the door, and tried the handle. It clacked and refused to open.

What the hell was I doing? Of course it wouldn’t open. A hallucination couldn’t open anything.

Oh, I was a mess, and— 

An ear-shattering bang rang through the air. I flinched, snapping my hands away from the door. A scream and a thud followed the sound, and I backed away even more. 

What the hell?

The noises continued; gunshots, cries, thuds, bangs, ripping through the air and echoing off the walls like a fucked up concert. Whoever was attacking was putting up a good fight, too, because moments inched by, and the fight only continued.

Who...?

Okay, that was an unnecessary question. The only ones stupid—and resourceful—enough to attack the Palace were rebels.

I couldn’t bite back the groan.

Perfect! This night was just getting better and better by the minute!

Were they here for me? Were they so pissed over the whole thing at the plaza, they’d attack the Palace just to get to me before my execution? 

But how had they even found me? I hadn’t told anyone about my plan to infiltrate the Palace.

Had they followed me? 

And pissed off or not, that seemed a little too stupid for them. Amanda was more than just a pain in my ass; she was agony in my entire goddamn being. But she wasn’t an idiot and she hadn’t climbed up the rebel importancy ladder by doing stupid things. She was smart enough to understand that rushing into the Palace to kill me over a little misunderstanding was nothing short of moronic.

Or maybe she, the oh-so-capable rebel queen, wasn’t as smart as I’d given her credit for. 

Oh, well. None of that mattered. 

Besides, the rebels were good with guns, but as soon as you got up in their faces, they peed their pants and begged for you to leave them alone. Sure, underestimating them was a death sentence, but I’d fought them enough to know what they were like in a fight. If I could surprise them, and unless there were ten of them out there, I had a real chance. They would kill the guards and unlock the door, and I’d fight my way through them. 

It didn’t matter if the stone had called them here, or if this was all just a coincidence, or if they truly had followed me and were here to shed some blood. All that mattered was that I got out.

I grabbed the knife I’d dropped when I crashed. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. 

There was one last scream in the corridor outside, followed by a grunt, and the air fell silent. A rattle of keys behind the door made me tense. 

Time to go again. 

I hurried over and pressed my back against the wall by the door, readying the knife in my hands.

If they had come prepared to shoot me, I needed the surprise; I was good, but not good enough to dodge a bullet. 

The door opened with a creak. I held my breath as someone stepped in, their gun raised and eyes scanning the room—

I moved before they could spot me.

I shot to the side and grabbed the incomer by the gun-wielding wrist. Forcing the hand down, I spun around and knocked them off their feet. The gun stayed with me as they met the floor with a surprised little yelp.

Something collided with the side of my knee. I flinched back, but the back of my foot slammed into something solid. The world tipped—or maybe it was me—and I crashed to the floor with a grunt. 

The rebel was on top of me in a flash. Our eyes met just as he slammed his hands over mine and pinned them to the floor, keeping me from thrashing up or smacking the gun over his head.

“Don’t fight!” he gasped.

I took notice of his green eyes, of the freckles, of the light brown hair — and froze. 

Holy shit. 

Wasn’t he—

“You okay in there?” a female voice called from the corridor outside. “You gotta hurry it up, because we’re about to have company!”

“Hold them off!” the guy on top of me called out, glancing at the direction of the corridor I imagined looked a lot like a damn war zone.

I furrowed my brows, tensing under his surprisingly solid weight.

He looked exactly like Noa Boyle. They both had the same nose, the same freckled cheeks, the same eyes, the same hair, the same  _ everything _ — but it couldn’t be him. The young man in those pictures had died over three years earlier. 

“Okay, you heard her, we’re on a clock here,” he said. “First things first, we’re not your enemy. There’s something we need, and we really need your help getting it. There’s a pay in it for you. I won’t drag you out by force, though, so you either walk out with us or we go without you.” 

“So I have two options. Either I trust a couple of rebels to not kill me, or stay here and die anyway in a mess you created?” I snorted. “Fuck you. I’m not going to trust you.” 

“Hey, don’t blame us. If you hadn’t gone and grabbed the stone, we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.”

This was about the damn stone again? Touching that thing had really gotten me in some wild trouble. 

The guy grimaced, not exactly dry, but not filled with humor, either. “So, hey, nice to meet you. But I’m only gonna ask you once. What’s it gonna be? Come or stay?”

As if there was any decision to be made here.

“No thanks. I’ll take my chances with the guards. At least they’ll look me in the eye when they stab me.” I twisted my body. “Get off me, asshole.” 

“Just so you know, we’re not rebels.”

I paused. “So who—” 

A plethora of gunshots rang from the corridor. The guy above me flinched, his eyes widening, and turned his gaze to the door just as someone grunted. A thud followed.

“We gotta go!” the woman yelled. 

“Give me a moment!” the guy called out and finally rolled off me. He stood up, dusting his knees, and reached a hand out. “My gun, please. I’m not gonna shoot you.”

He looked like he’d come straight from a high-end party; both the dark red vest with some fancy little details, and the white dress shirt underneath looked worth more money than everything I owned put together. He’d pulled the sleeves up to his elbows, revealing his tattooed arms. 

I held the gun tighter as I stood up. “No.”

Rolling his eyes, he dropped his hand. “Last chance, buddy. Make your call. Come or stay?” 

“You need me, huh? Tell me what this is about, and I’ll reconsider.”

“We don’t have time for—”

“Make it quick, then.”

He sighed. “We’re after the stone you found. I don’t know what these guards told you, but they’re not going to kill you. They need the stone for something, and since you absorbed it—”

I snorted. “Absorbed?” 

“—they’re going to use you in the ritual instead of one of their own,” the guy finished. “Yes, absorbed. You touched it, right?” 

“And why do you care what happens to me?”

I had no friends, no family, no value outside of my hunting skills. And even more, this guy and that woman in the corridor were strangers to me. They didn’t care about me, they had no reason to, so there had to be something else. 

Outside in the corridor, the woman shot again. Someone screamed. 

The guy frowned, a little uneasy. “Not to sound mean, but I don’t exactly care about you. The fact is, you have the stone now, and they need it. If they finish the ritual, something terrible is going to happen.” 

And there it was. 

“Thank you.” I tossed the gun to his feet. 

When nobody cared about me, I didn’t have to care about them. Easier that way. 

He picked the gun up, a genuinely confused look on him. “So, what? Are you coming with us?” 

“Sure.”

I almost felt guilty seeing the relief on his face, but only almost. They were the easiest way out. I’d ditch them outside the Palace limits before they stabbed me in the back. What was one more lie in my shitty life?

“Are you done yet?” The woman fired her weapon twice. “It’s getting crowded in here!” 

The guy cocked his gun and glanced at me. “You got a weapon?” 

I showed him my tiny knife. 

He laughed. “Uh, okay. Here. Take this.” He dug into the back of his pants and tossed me a sheathed dagger.

It was funny how sure he was I wouldn’t attack.

I drew the dagger out. The gorgeous carvings on the silver blade caught my breath. Red and black flowers, carved curly like they were growing off the handle, and—

_ Shit. _

I froze, staring down at the weapon. 

Red and black. The colors of the Holy Aeno and the church. And those flowers… They grew everywhere around the Palace. 

A coldness clutching my throat, I looked up at the guy, but he’d already disappeared. 

There was no way he could be the young man from those pictures hung all around Riveria, but the resemblance, the colors, him not being a rebel… 

It had to be. I would’ve been an idiot to deny it any longer.

Somehow that young guy who had died three years ago—and was mourned yearly on the date of his death in late February—was now in his early twenties and fighting for a stupid stone in the corridor outside.

He was the dead son of the Messenger. He was Noa Boyle.

A band tightened around my chest. 

Which meant he was one of the assholes responsible for what had happened. He was an indirect killer of my parents. He was the Messenger’s son and the future Messenger, and there was no way a boy from a family like his could’ve been here to help.

Somehow, some way, this was a trap. He played me for a complete idiot, thinking if he staged a rescue, I’d follow him into whatever he and his father had planned for me. 

Well, it wouldn’t be me who died tonight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that’s the end...
> 
> For now. ;)
> 
> If you want to stay updated on the book, follow me on tumblr at whumpprompts.tumblr.com, or follow me on twitter at @writingeden. I don’t have anything on twitter yet because honestly idk how to use it, but I’ll figure it out. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


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